purchase

American  

[pur-chuhs] / ˈpɜr tʃəs /

verb (used with object)

• purchases,
  present (3rd person singular)
• purchased,
  past participle,  past
• purchasing
  present participle

1. to acquire by the payment of money or its equivalent; buy.

   Synonyms:

   procure, obtain, get

   Antonyms:

   sell

2. to acquire by effort, sacrifice, flattery, etc.

3. to influence by a bribe.

4. to be sufficient to buy.

   Twenty dollars purchases a subscription.

5. Law. to acquire (land or other property) by means other than inheritance.

6. to move, haul, or raise, especially by applying mechanical power.

7. to get a leverage on; apply a lever, pulley, or other aid to.

8. Obsolete. to procure, acquire, or obtain.

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verb (used without object)

• purchases,
  present (3rd person singular)
• purchased,
  past participle,  past
• purchasing
  present participle

1. to buy something.

noun

• purchases
  plural

1. acquisition by the payment of money or its equivalent; buying, or a single act of buying.

2. something that is purchased or bought.

3. something purchased, with respect to value in relation to price; buy.

   At three for a dollar they seemed like a good purchase.

4. Law. the acquisition of land or other property by means other than inheritance.

5. acquisition by means of effort, labor, etc..

   the purchase of comfort at the price of freedom.

6. a lever, pulley, or other device that provides mechanical advantage or power for moving or raising a heavy object.

   Synonyms:

   capstan, winch

7. an effective hold or position for applying power in moving or raising a heavy object; leverage.

8. any means of applying or increasing power, influence, etc.

9. the annual return or rent from land.

10. a firm grip or grasp, footing, etc., on something.

11. Obsolete. booty.

purchase British  

/ ˈpɜːtʃɪs /

verb

1. to obtain (goods, etc) by payment

2. to obtain by effort, sacrifice, etc

   to purchase one's freedom

3. to draw, haul, or lift (a load) with the aid of mechanical apparatus

4. to acquire (an estate) other than by inheritance

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noun

1. something that is purchased, esp an article bought with money

2. the act of buying

3. acquisition of an estate by any lawful means other than inheritance

4. a rough measure of the mechanical advantage achieved by a lever

5. a firm foothold, grasp, etc, as for climbing or levering something

6. a means of achieving some influence, advantage, etc

Synonym Usage

See buy.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nonpurchase
  noun
• nonpurchaser
  noun
• prepurchase
  noun
• prepurchaser
  noun
• purchaser
  noun
• mispurchase
  verb (used with object)
• overpurchase
  verb (used with object)
• quasi-purchased
  adjective
• unpurchased
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• purchases
  plural

Participles

• purchasing
  present
• purchased
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• purchase
  simple
• purchases
  simple
• have purchased
  perfect
• has purchased
  perfect
• am purchasing
  progressive
• are purchasing
  progressive
• is purchasing
  progressive
• have been purchasing
  perfect progressive
• has been purchasing
  perfect progressive

Past

• purchased
  simple
• had purchased
  perfect
• was purchasing
  progressive
• were purchasing
  progressive
• had been purchasing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will purchase
  simple
• will have purchased
  perfect
• will be purchasing
  progressive
• will have been purchasing
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of purchase

First recorded before 1150; (for the verb) Middle English purchasen, from Anglo-French purchacer “to seek to obtain, procure,” from pur- (from Latin prō pro ¹ ) + chacer “to chase” ( see chase ¹); noun derivative of the verb

Explanation

When you purchase a pair of shoes, you buy them. If you want to gain purchase, or favor, with new friends, you might tell them about your recent purchase of chocolate, and offer to share. Purchase can refer to the act of buying or the thing you bought. In 1803, the United States paid France approximately $15,000,000 for 800,000 acres of land which was called Louisiana, in a transaction known as the Louisiana Purchase. In this transaction, the purchase nearly doubled the size of the U.S. — the territory purchased comprises about 23 percent of current U.S. land.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

purchase purchases purchased purchasing

By agreeing to the arrangement, users were signed up for a scheme where they agreed to purchase a certain number of products over a specific amount of time at full price.

From Salon ● Aug. 21, 2026

The most expensive purchase, she calculates, were the windows at £30,000, while one of the cheapest measures was making the whole house airtight, which cost £5,000.

From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026

SpaceX has also scored wins at the Federal Communications Commission, which in May approved the company’s plan to purchase spectrum rights to connect mobile phones with satellites.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 20, 2026

New York has a transit-rich environment, making it an attractive place for companies to purchase new office space and workers to live in.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2026

Between the purchase of the loans and the sale of the bonds made up of those loans, his group was exposed to falling prices.

From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis

There were more than 550 purchases and more than 450 sales revealed in the latest filing released Saturday.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 23, 2026

The Treasury said it would at least double its purchases of longer-dated government bonds in an effort to bring down long-term borrowing costs.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026

Columbia House drew further claims of bad business by allegedly refusing to acknowledge payments, discounting items so that users’ purchases fell just below the agreed-upon threshold and being a notoriously difficult subscription to terminate.

From Salon ● Aug. 21, 2026

Such measures could include increased bond purchases beyond the scale announced the day before.

From Barron's ● Aug. 21, 2026

There are receipts for big and small purchases, lease agreements, tax documents, warranties, and instruction manuals.

From "Everything, Everything" by Nicola Yoon

China, the world’s largest oil importer, purchased around 11 million barrels a day in 2025, with half that amount coming from Middle East suppliers including Iran, according to energy analytics company Vortexa.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 22, 2026

He has purchased the building as part of a group of locals, who estimate it will need £5m of investment as they continue to look for partnerships.

From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026

But the government rejects the criticism, arguing that it has invested in ground-based resources, which it says are more effective, and purchased helicopters for water-bombing operations, with deliveries of the aircraft under way.

From Barron's ● Aug. 20, 2026

When Guggenheim purchased the team in 2012, it outbid billionaire hedge fund manager Steven Cohen, who now owns the New York Mets.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2026

My light blue corduroy pants that I'd proudly purchased with my 50 percent employee discount at the Gap were ruined forever.

From "Americanized" by Sara Saedi

With first-come, first-serve purchasing, the ticketing platform will remain open continuously through the Games.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026

Surveys of purchasing managers recorded a pickup in activity in the eurozone, Japan and India during August, suggesting the global economy might avoid a further modest slowdown in the third quarter.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026

But investor appetite in lending the US government money through buying bonds is "diminishing", Swanson warns, creating a "vicious" cycle, requiring the government to offer ever higher returns to keep investors purchasing its debt.

From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026

The school opted for a middle ground, purchasing 200 graphing calculators from French company NumWorks for its ninth-grade classes, with plans to create a schoolwide rollout over three years.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 18, 2026

Most of the older ones, members of the purchasing committees, were in town doing the marketing.

From "Cheaper by the Dozen" by Frank B. Gilbreth Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey

Related Words

• acquire
• earn
• invest
• pick up
• procure
• redeem
• shop
• take